51

Thank you to all my dear friends and family
who took time to wish me a happy birthday,
it was a relaxing day working from home.
I went for a little masked walk,
it was a beautiful sunny day.
Spend time with the cats,
and even managed to get vegan cupcakes.
51! & counting...
Thankful for another year on this wonderful planet.🎂
Still alive and healthy, living strange times
during this Covid-19 pandemic.

Vegan birthday cupcake

Wearing my mask before going for a walk

Frau Kitty's birthday hug

51 with pandemic look!

48

I became 48 a few weeks ago.
I am always thankful for being alive!

Mission bay

Say thank you to the ocean for another year

Me, age 48

I am 48! not 481 ;)

Some of the lovely gifts my friends gave me

vegan lunch, spicy broccoli from Native Foods

Jibarito, veggies and plantain bread from Native Foods

47

#vegan banana split birthday cake!
You DON'T need eggs nor milk
nor hurt animals to celebrate your birthday!
#whatveganseat

46

And counting!
Today is my 46 birthday
And I am so thankful to be alive.

My friend perro and his lovely wife cooked
this wonderful vegan dinner for me on Saturday
from the great Afro-Vegan cookbook by Bryant Terry

Black bean and Seitan stew

Smashed potatoes with roasted corn & peas

I am happy to be alive!
To have 2 wonderful cats!
To have a wonderful mom & friends and
To be a vegan!

salute to the sea

went to say hello to the ocean
in my birthday
to thank him/her for another year of life
and then, secretly, i took pictures of
him/her

45

45
white hairs, a couple of more
little wrinkles around my eyes
mostly from smiles
vegan
and fine
this experience of being alive
so thankful for that
live, alive, life

my own birthday gift

43

4/14 yes 43!
celebrated my birthday today
a lovely peaceful lazy day
latte and breakfast burrito in the morning
many wonderful phone calls, family & friends
a twisty moody weather day, but pretty
at the end...
the sun showed for a little through fluffy clouds
to say hello, so the day was complete
fine fine and thankful to make it to this day
can't wait for many more to come

i am just saying... [smile smile]

42

we all already know that 42 is the
"Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything"
as Deep Thought pointed on
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

but also 42 is the number of Earth years
that i become today...

yeah! already 42 & thankfully for being alive today
and smiling

it has been a 'regular' day
i came to work and even if parties haven't been planned
i did get to eat some birthday cake
my friend Rebecca at work just came back from New York City
and she brought me a little cupcake from the infamous
Magnolia bakery in NYC
that works as my b-day cake today...



i only wish for my life to keep on being this mellow
& good, i have a semi-OK health
but i have a job, semi-OK too, but at least i design there
a lovely mother and family
two terrific furry companions
many wild birds that visit me every morning & evening
a place to practice yoga
and i live in one of the cities with best weather
in the world!

ah also, i have some white hairs already
but no plans to die my hair... not just yet



so i am lucky! and i am 42 too
Happy Birthday to me!

41

today, April 14th, is my birthday
i am officially 41 years old
and i am so thankful i made it this far
i only wish i can make it to 80... at least!
but of course in good health
can't wait to see myself with all white hair

my routine today has been like any regular day
i woke up, had coffee, stopped for cake
(well, that was unusual)
unusual too was to have chocolate cake for breakfast
after arriving at work
but in spite of not having big celebrations happening
i've been having a pretty nice day:

my cats greeted me and sunbathed this morning
my mom, my aunt, my sister, and herr Thilo called
i got tons of notes via Facebook from remote and close friends
and we ate chocolate cake at work with black tea


chocolate cake to celebrate my co-worker's and my birthday at work

and for dinner my friend perro and miss m
the m&m team visited me, bought me pizza at Zia
and meet Lucky, the black cat and gave me hope
on finding him a home
nothing like sharing maladies and worries with friends
to feel them dissipate

and i am not sure why
maybe 'cause i've been eating avocados for a while now
or doing yoga more often
but i feel rather happy and thankful to be alive!

other years i had more things going on
but i was less happy
as i get older, i seem to comfort myself
with less and with those little things of life
like a piece of cake, a smile, and a good tea

i thank life for not giving me a migraine
nor an asthma attack today
and for keeping my lungs breathing
and my eyes open to appreciate
this wonderful fluffy cloud in the sky


lovely fluffy cloud covering a radiant sun behind

life is great at 41!
when you only expect smiles from friends
and to be alive


my old Swatch marking 14 on the date

hope you had a great day too
and share for me a smile

and i feel like singing this old Belle & Sebastian song
Ease Your Feet in the Sea
is all about taking shoes off and curling toes, nice!



Ease you're feet off in the sea
My darling it's the place to be
Take your shoes off curl your toes
And I will frame this moment in time
Troubles come and troubles go
The trouble that we've come to know
Will stay with us till we get old
Will stay with us till somebody decides to go
Decides to go
Soberly, without regret, 1 make another sandwich
And I fill my face, 1 know that things have got to you
But what can 1 do?
Suddenly, without a warning
On a pale blue morning
You decide your time is wearing thin
A conscious choice to let yourself go dangling
Hovering
It's an emergency
There's no more wait and see
Maybe if I shut my eves
Your trouble will be split between us
People come and people go
You're scouring everybodies face
For some small flicker of the truth
To what it is that you are going through, my boy
I left you dry
The signs were clear that you were not going anywhere
Anywhere
Save for a falling down
Everything's going wrong
Later on, as I walked home
The plough was showing, and orion
1 could see the house where you lived
I could see the house where you gave
All your time and sanity to people
Then you waited for the people to acknowledge you
They spoke in turn
But their eyes would pass over you
Over you
Who's seeing you at all?
Who's seeing You at all?

October 07

today, October 7, is my favorite aunt's birthday
my aunt Margarita
so it's Thom Yorke's b-day too
one of my favorite artists
notice that i didn't say favorite singer
i think he's actually not a great singer
but his conceptual mind
has mesmerized me (& millions)
for years now
his interesting solo album
The Eraser proved what he can do
without Radiohead
as the allmusic.com review says
it's intensely focused and steady...
and visit his website too
TheEraser.Net

here some of his solo & live performances


and sure, a Radiohead song too

these very dark days for me
feeling weak against roaches, sickness
asthma, allergy, and over all
selfish human behaviors
sure i wish i was too
bullet, human & roaches
and broken heart proof too



this is not the 'official' video of the song
but i feel it fits the tune...

Limb by limb and tooth by tooth
Tearing up inside of me.
Everyday, everyhour, wish that I was..
Was bullet proof

Wax me, mould me
Heat the pins and stab them in.
You have turned me into this, just wish that it..
Was bullet proof

So pay me money, and take a shot
Lead fill the hole in me.
I could burst a million bubbles, all surrogate..
& bullet proof (slowdown, slowdown, slowdown)
Bullet proof (slowdown, slowdown, slowdown)

40

so today as 12:18pm (PST)
i am 40

aged... yet my mind-core essence
still feels the same as when i was 12
i still like mysteries, as i did back then
i basically feel the same girl
[only much older]
when i was a girl
i used to read Sherlock Holmes all the time,
now i read Barnes, and Murakami;
and life seems to have changed
yet are the books, and the fragrances of life,
somehow, still the same
friends have different faces
but feels warm to hug them, the same

lovely is to be alive at 40!
but as i told my mother yesterday
"i am not quite sure i will make it to 80,
then, i am today, starting the 2nd half
of this my lifetime"


'fresh'(?) from this morning my crow's-feet

and for 40 years now
i've been rather enjoying myself
sometimes in spite
of maladies, some aches of the hearth,
and nowadays sudden old-lady's pains

glad i made it this far
and thankful for another year of life
hope more to come
to watch clouds, and to feel the sun
and the rain, and
to see smiles, share stories with friends
and hug the loved ones
take pictures, write silly notes
and pet furry friends

39

ich habe heute Geburtstag
today is my birthday
hoy es mi cumpleaños



and i know strange vibes been around
my life for the past days
but yet i wake up today
and i am thankful for being alive!
for having lived 39 years already
even if it doesn't really feel like 39...

i am thankful for having friends and family
for being alive
for having a very little house
a very little car and a job
also i have a very little but lovely red pet
all in my life is barely there and nothing is too big
not so flashing
all is modest but i am OK with what i have

and i am sure the ones that remember me
wish me well,
i might be remembered even
in other continents! eh! ahh!

so even with a broken camera
i do have a lot to be thankful for...

and yes! i make a lot of mistakes
but life is to live and to learn
so i hope i am growing personally every day
and ... yeah strange to be 39
but ready to keep on living
and bring on the next 39!

i hope you leave your little message here
to celebrate with me being around for 39 years
if you'd like to share this day with me!
even if just online

and i am not an expert on astrology
but the characteristics of my sign
Aries, sound a lot like me...
specially the stubborn part

and here how i looked age 38
just a couple of days ago
with my still OK alpha
ah sighs...



and here how my broken alpha
portraits 'the time'...

april 14th: my birthday mi cumpleaños

April 14th is my birthday (37 ouch!)
and it is also Tiffany's birhtday
happy birthday Tiffany!

yeah! i was born still on the glory and confusion of the 60's still
the last chance and a kabbalistic (i like this spelling better) number 1969
man on the moon (that might explain the space-cadet behavior)
woodstock, hippies and the damn whole thing
right on! no wonder why i came out like this

so for my birthday I won’t be home

When I became 15 years, my mom sent me in a long trip
(alone to Europe with another 15 year-old girl,
My grandma Mami Pera as I always called her
and Esperanza for the rest, didn’t talk to her until I came back,
she was upset thinking I wouldn’t come back)
as you all can imagine, I did come back
Apart from being alive (well my dad had to do with this too)
I owe my mom the sense of travel
(my dad doesn’t travel much, or at all! He just likes to seat
And do wooden things and be lazy, the wood and laziness
And the laidback and silly smiling all times I did get from
That very handsome man: my dad, yes very handsome still)

Anyway
When I became 18, I went to San Francisco for the first time!
Exactly on my birthday, arrived and things were staring to take shape

In 2001 when I spent my first b-day in San Diego
I started formally the little birthday tradition:
Going to a new city, one that I haven’t been to before,
Each year in my birthday

So 2001 was Los Angeles CA
Never been there before
We (my cousin Juan Carlos) drove from San Diego without an early plan
And ended at the MOCA and Little Tokyo
And apart from stepping in Angelina-land for the first time
I did see a couple of original Warhols and Lichtensteins
I was thrilled! What else can a so-called modernist designer ask for?

Then lack of money and a stable job, that freaking long unemployment
kept me closer to home for the coming years

Yet last year I re-started the little tradition
with the amazing-most-famous-city-in the world!
La Ciudad de Nueva York

I got myself a ticket to go and see M83 my favorite band of those days
I tried to visit the Guggenheim on April 14 but it was closed!
So I ended at the astonishing Metropolitan Museum of Art
Splendid and the feet so sore
At least 6 hrs by myself getting lost among art from all over the world
From all over the times from all over the minds of the masters that put together
This sometimes-lovely sometimes-terrible world of us
what could I have seen more interesting than that place?

Then from Manhattan, I called my mother in Autlan, in an emotional rush to say
Thanks for bringing me to this world, so we wept and sob on the phone
And left a similar message to my dad
Those two if it wasn’t for their attraction one day… o well…
Probably the Manhattan-Autlan telephone connection doesn’t happen very often though

and and and the Strand bookstore 18 miles of books
I didn't count them but boy it was big!
(thank you forever Mike for taking me there) wow!
El cementerio de los libros olvidados, the most delightful place in the world
for literature fiends, como yo...

The fear of not being able to top such magical vacation
(One of the most wonderful times of my 36 years, again thank you adorable host)
And the lack of money are keeping closer this year
I was expecting to be in Boston by now
Instead, I am going to Julian, California si señor!

Therefore my birthday extravaganza
(as Linda appropriately-enough named it)
Of a new city each year is still going ON!!!
And I am so thankful for being able to keep it

Julian is a lovely town, for what I heard
An hour drive from home
Apple pies and miner town

to Julian I am going solo, and alone
well, the little voices in the head are coming too
Ok & some books too
To a peaceful weekend

To stay at the Julian Hotel, the oldest continuously operating hotel in Southern California
As they claim, built by a former slave and his wife when gold was discovered in the San Diego area, long long ago

This little b-day celebration is a total contrast with New York a year ago
And I know in Julian probably the most exciting thing that could happen
Is me OD-ing in apple pies or seeing an imaginary ghost of
An old miner whispering to me ‘stop smoking, stop, you are not that young anymore’
Jean will say the same on Sunday anyway heh heh

However, I am thankful overall of being alive and of making it this old!
Considering the health issues that I have been dealing with since 2004,
so happy to make it this far!

The best part of all is that I have YOU
Reading this flowing silliness
just to know I have friends to die for!

Happy birthday to me, indeed!
Since I have all of you and I am still freaking alive!
Unbelievable sometimes!

Leaving for Julian very early tomorrow morning, NO work!!
but please don’t stop yourself if you want to send a note
Or some presents on the mail
Or some cash
Or something so you a similar foolish e-mail next year

Julian extravaganza hooray! here we go!

O happy Easter too!